2026 Connected Retail Experience Study
The New Omnichannel Reality: AI Is Required to Compete, Yet Hard to Implement
Q1, 2026
83% of retailers say AI is necessary to compete. Only 6% rate their current capabilities as mature. That gap isn't a technology problem. It's a foundation problem: siloed data, legacy systems, and a shortage of specialized talent are stalling deployments before they deliver results. At the same time, the store itself has become the most complicated node in retail operations, functioning simultaneously as showroom, fulfillment center, returns hub, and pickup point. Keeping it running well, with leaner teams and higher customer expectations, is pushing technology investment from nice-to-have to operational necessity.
The 2026 Connected Retail Experience Study, conducted in partnership with Verizon Business and Cisco, surveys 124 retail executives across grocery and specialty segments to understand where that investment is going and what's getting in the way. It examines the shift to mobile-first associates, the persistent gap between personalization ambition and execution, AI deployment priorities by retail format, and why network infrastructure has moved from background utility to competitive bottleneck.
FOUR KEY B2C COMMERCE IMPERATIVES
Incisiv
Here’s a preview of the report. The full report is available for free download via the form below.
As consumers continue to reshape their expectations,
enterprises must contend with a uniquely challenging landscape.
The consumer technology landscape is forever changing.
From Pinterest to TikTok, WeChat to Instagram, new experiences can rapidly gain consumer adoption and relevance.
From augmented reality to voice, smartwatches to chatbots, consumers are constantly embracing new interaction paradigms.
Commoditized convenience is eroding loyalty and margin.
Consumers expect convenience. If you can't deliver it, they'll go elsewhere - e.g. next day shipping becoming the new standard.
Walmart will reportedly lose USD 1 billion on eCommerce revenue of USD 21 billion this year as it faces challenges in its bid to complete against Amazon – from trouble integrating its DNVB acquisitions to impact on margin from its next-day delivery operations.
Consumers value experiences that are curated to fit their lives better.
They want to engage, be served, and transact at their time, their pace, their place. They have little patience, infinite choice and the freedom to swipe left at the slightest hint of friction.
